McGinnis: Mia’s questionnaire

So, I’ve got this new podcast thing I’m doing, called “Off Topic with Jeff McGinnis.” You may not have heard about it, as I’ve only mentioned it on the WSPD show, my Facebook and Twitter pages, and if you happened to randomly run into me on the street. It’s an interview show where I ask folks about unusual subject matter, and I’m enjoying my work on it a lot.

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One of my favorite parts of the show comes at the end — inspired by a deleted scene from Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” Just before he takes her out on their not-a-date, Vincent Vega (played by John Travolta) is subjected to a series of questions by Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman). She precedes this with an explanation:

“My theory is that when it comes to important subjects, there’s only two ways a person can answer. For example, there’s two kinds of people in the world: Beatles people and Elvis people. Now, Beatles people can like Elvis, and Elvis people can like the Beatles. But nobody likes them both equally. Somewhere, you have to make a choice, and that choice tells me who you are.”

So, I figured I’d ask people who came on the show the same questions Mia asks Vincent, to see what other folks would say. I’ve found the myriad answers I’ve gotten to these simple, one-way-or-the-other questions have been very interesting —and, as Tarantino’s script suggests, in their own way, they’re a window into who a person is.

Dave Meltzer, wrestling journalist: “That’s a function of when you grew up, I think. So I would have to say the Beatles, but when I got older — when I was a kid, Elvis wasn’t that big, and then he died. And the Beatles were huge, but they ended their run when I was very young as well, but Paul McCartney, and John Lennon to an extent, were still around and big stars. But as I got older, I started to really appreciate how big Elvis was. So it’s a lot closer now.”

Maria Kanellis, model and wrestler: “Beatles. I love the Beatles, but I hate saying the Beatles because my grandma is obsessed with Elvis. She one time broke her arm falling out of a tree trying to look into the Elvis compound.”

Max Temkin, co-creator of “Cards Against Humanity”: “I gotta pick one? What do I know about them … they’re both sitcom families, there’s a lot of children and, presumably, there’s hijinks. Brady Bunch.”

Question Three: What’s your favorite way to say “thanks” in a foreign language?

Molly Lewis, musician: “I don’t speak that many foreign languages, but I know ‘Kamsahamnida,’ which is Korean. And I actually can’t say it without bowing a little, reflexively. As you do.”

Temkin: “Quatlho’!” (Klingon.)

Question Four: In conversation, do you listen, or do you wait to talk?

Jim Beard, Toledo Free Press columnist and writer: “I’m listening to you, but it’s gotta be wait to talk. I think my wife would absolutely say that I — and half the time, I don’t even wait to talk, and you know that.”

Jim Cornette, wrestling manager: “I do both. No, seriously, because if you don’t listen, then you can’t figure out how to rebut, refute and/or discourage the opposing viewpoint that you’re being presented with.”

Storm, of musical group Paul and Storm: “It’s situational, I will say that. But generally, listen.”

Demetrius Nicodemus, “The Morning Rush”: “I would like to think I listen … but 65 percent of the time, I think I wait to talk.”